Today is Day 6 of The {21} Purge and Rhonna's motivation is to remember that: "YOU ARE OF GREAT WORTH. I truly believe this. And...it is your heritage to be happy. I believe we are all children of God & He has a plan for us. And struggling is part of it. Because we grow. We become stronger. And through that...we become happier. We learn that we CAN be happy no matter what our circumstance is. We have that choice. We can choose to be happy."
Well...I have to admit that I was feeling pretty sorry for myself yesterday...after my shoe funeral and ALL ;[ Then I read Rhonna's post this morning and soon after discovered (by divine intervention I'm sure ;) this wonderful post by Gussy: {"My feet are off the ground"} After which I had a huge headache from all the tears of shame I was feeling for being so darn dramatic about my darn shoes! Give me a break...so I whipped my self into shape and just got my head around it and CHOSE TO BE HAPPY...but more importantly to be thankful for all that I have!
by Tyler Perry, writer and actor
This morning I awoke and was so frustrated about all of the stuff that I’m dealing with in trying to get this studio open. I was about to open my mouth and start complaining when I remembered something that happened to me about a year ago.
I was walking to my car when this woman who appeared to be homeless started walking towards me. I’m ashamed to say this but I thought, ‘I don’t feel like being hustled today.’ Then I got quickly convicted. I felt guilty so I started digging in my pocket for some money. As she got closer I noticed that she had the kindest eyes that I had ever seen. As I was reaching into my pocket she started to speak. I thought, ‘Here goes the sales pitch’. She said ‘Excuse me sir, I need some shoes. Can you help me?’ My eyes filled with water because I remember being out on the streets and having only one pair of run over shoes. I was taken aback for a second.
I took her inside the studio and had my wardrobe people find shoes in her size. As she put the shoes on she started crying, praising God and thanking Jesus, and saying, ‘My feet are off the ground! My feet are off the ground!’ Several of the wardrobe people started crying. I was crying. But I never forgot those words. ‘My feet are off the ground!’ I thought, ‘Wow! All she wanted was some shoes.’ She quickly disappeared and never asked me for a dime. I realized that I still had the money in my hand so I went out looking for her. She was gone just that quick so I looked all around the neighborhood for her. I found her standing on a corner looking down at her shoes, still crying. I was so touched. I asked her how she had gotten homeless. She told me that she had AIDS and that she was waiting to get into a shelter.. She said that her family had turned their backs on her and that she had no place to go, but she knew that God would make a way for her. I said to myself, ‘He just did.’ Her faith and her praise moved me. I took her to a nearby hotel and put her up until she was able to get on her feet. I had someone that worked for me to check on her from time to time and to make sure that she had food and clothes. After about a month or so we lost touch, but I never forgot her.
This past summer I was shooting ‘Daddy’s Little Girls’ and this woman walks up to me smiling. I didn’t recognize her face, but her eyes were familiar.. She had on a really nice dress and her hair was done. It was her! She told me that the little help that I had given her had changed her life. She was in a house now and doing very well.
I said all of that to say this. After I met this woman, every time I think about complaining and mumbling I remember, ‘My feet are off the ground!’
I wanted to share this with you just to let you know that when I say that I am thankful for you, I mean it. And when I say that you are a blessing to me, I mean it. We take so much for granted sometimes that I just wanted all of you to know that I am grateful to God for you everyday. Thank you for being in my life.
Yesterday I started Day 5 of my purge my going under my bed...remember this? Well you have to start somewhere...so I started with the top of my bed...
and then I proceeded to pull EVERYTHING out form under my bed ;)
Oh yeah...I'm really good at maximizing every square inch that is underneath my king bed! We have sweaters in crates to the right...
AND more sweaters to the left...
THEN in the middle you'll find Bins for Bills, Fabric, Bedding and those dastardly SPACE BAGS(biggest waste of time and money if you ask me...why you ask? BECAUSE first...they don't stay flat, unless you never move them and then sometimes the hot/cold air makes them inflate anyhow! Second...because once you do deflate them YOU NEVER WANT TO ATTEMPT TO OPEN THEM AGAIN to find out what's inside ;) Sorry I went off there...somebody stop me!
So how on earth and I able to get all of these bins under my bed? Well...because we do not have any other closets here at the Love Shack [no linen or coat or storage closets what-so-ever :] I invested in this miracle bed riser...
Can you see the white legs...well these legs clamp onto your regular bed frame and jack up your bed 15 inches off the ground! It's such a good thing...I had bought my son one for his bed when he was living here while attending college. Look way back and you can see my rolls of decorator fabric...not purging these so there was no need to pull them out right now ;)
The above photo gives you a better idea of how I can just slip my crates on wheels right under the bed. I need to go on-line NOW and find more sets of wheels for three more of my other crates because these are such a back-saver! What you are also seeing is the plywood base which we had to make for our new arrangement. You see...we had a pair of king boxsprings and a foot-board for this bed but if we kept them then we were sleeping like the Princess and the Pea! Not a good thing at all and DH quickly ran down to the home store and had them cut the plywood for us so that it would fit perfectly. To tell you the truth...I don't miss banging my thighs and feet on the foot-board anymore...let alone the pain in the butt it was making the bed with the foot-board. So you see...things really do work out for the best...even if we don't understand at the time ;)
So please tell me...How do you handle it when you bite off more than you can chew?
Roberta,
Sorry to hear that your Space Bag products keep re-inflating. We are committed to providing quality products, and have recently taken steps to improve our products. These improvements include the addition of a new double zipper along with a new Turbo Valve. If your bag is re-inflating, it could be because the zipper is not securely sealed or the bag is too full.
Just so you know, Space Bag will exchange faulty products if they are covered under our warranty. Please view our blog for details: http://spacesaverscommunity.com/blog/?p=264.
We hope you will consider Space Bag for your future storage and moving needs. Feel free to use the contact form on www.SpaceSaversCommunity.com if you'd like to get in touch.
Best,
Space Saver community correspondent
Posted by: Correspondent | November 19, 2010 at 02:02 PM
That was a touching story from Tyler Perry, I'm sure it helped keep him grounded. It remind me that when I want to clean out my closet that I should find a donation center to give my old clothes to, even though when I got rid of stuff it's because it's stained or ripped.
When I bite off more than I can chew I just have to remind myself to breathe and ask for help. I gave up on trying to everything by myself a long time ago, it's to stressful. Sometimes it means sticking my tail between my legs and asking my boss for help and admitting that I took on to much, but I figure everyone does that now and again. It makes us human.
Posted by: Cortney Lyon | November 14, 2010 at 10:14 PM
It's so easy isn't it? To take for granted all we DO have and to look at what we don't have...reading about other peoples lives sometimes really puts things into perspective...and shows us how we need to look at our lives and appreciate everything good {and bad} in it. The bad makes us stronger too.
Posted by: Bonnie | November 12, 2010 at 11:25 AM
PS..that was a wonderful story and so heart breaking. I commute to work. I drive to the train station, then take the railways to DC then hop on the subway line before I actually get to work. With this it's a daily occurance that I run into homeless people and everyday I clean out my little wallet of its change and hand it out. But it's not for me to judge why they are asking for money...not even if it's a con. If I have it I will hand it out. It's not much, but often I'm scuffed by other bypassers. I'm usually left wondering why they care that I have handed out some change--instead of them caring enough to hand it out themselves.
P.S.S...I got your note from your previous post!!!! Thanks so much for your support. I really do mean that.
here is my addy [email protected] and my blog cinnibonbon.blogspot.com
Posted by: cinnibonbon | November 11, 2010 at 08:48 PM
Funny how another person's life an help us get a real perspective on ours. We all know that your shoe furneral was an important aspect of who you are, and an action that needed to be conducted by you. (even if it's jest) Please do not discount it's importance!! While others have a more difficult time in live or love, we each have instances(small or great) that affect who we are. I know shoes shopping and shoe purging is an important aspect in many women lives, so never change what you did.Purging is a healthy thing and makes us more aware of what is REAL important in life, because stuff isn't...but we all treasure stuff!! No one can change that in our nature.
And yes, we can still morn for others and keep our little slice of sanity at the same time!
Posted by: cinnibonbon | November 11, 2010 at 08:36 PM
Being 65 and retired I can just shove everything back in the closet and have a drink. I learned long ago to not sweat the small stuff 'cause it's all small stuff...Someone wrote a whole book about it once but I'm too lazy to google it. Your hard work is tiring me out....lol....
Posted by: Donnie | November 10, 2010 at 07:52 PM